


Then there's no joy in the mending

by EponineTheStrange (gallifreyandglowclouds)



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-08
Updated: 2013-06-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 07:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/834172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyandglowclouds/pseuds/EponineTheStrange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Matt breaks a bunch of sonic screwdrivers on set, apparently. This is the story of how one of them got broken. Karen is involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Then there's no joy in the mending

People love to laugh about the fact that Matt frequently breaks the sonic screwdriver prop, and three years in to shooting DW, he’s okay to laugh about it too. (He used to be terribly embarrassed about it at the beginning, but now he’s kind of used to it.)

“Matt,” Karen says, as they walk back to her flat with Tesco-brand Indian food and the scripts for the first episode of series 7, “you’re not supposed to bring those home, right?”

He shrugs. “The props department probably won’t miss it, because I bring it back with me all the time.”

They eat their takeaway, and then start to work on their lines, but working on lines then degenerates into watching music videos on Karen’s laptop, and laughing about how ridiculously disproportionate Nicki Minaj’s ass is to the rest of her, and then Karen notices the screwdriver in Matt’s pocket, and grabs it from him and runs.

“Kaz!” He yells at her from across the room, where she’s standing and waving the screwdriver at him. “I am the only person in this room who is qualified to operate that screwdriver!”

“Really?” Karen says, raising her eyebrows and smiling wickedly at Matt. “Because to me, this just looks like something made of metal that that makes a noise when you press a button.” She presses it, and it lights up and makes a whirry sound.

“Those things break so easily,” Matt says.

“In your hands,” Karen replies. “I’m pretty sure I’d do just fine with it. Imagine, the Doctor could finally be ginger.”

Matt stands up. “You should give that back to me right now, Kazza.”

“How come?” She says to him in a mocking tone.

“I will come over there,” he says, no trace of a smile on his face, “and I will tickle you.”   
There’s a pause, and then Karen bursts out laughing.

Matt gets up, runs around her couch, and lunges at her. She squeals and just barely avoids him, and runs away, waving the screwdriver in her hand like a victory flag.   
“You’re never going to catch me, Matt!”

He runs after her as she darts in to her kitchen, and then back out in to the living room, and then she manages to get far enough in front of him to slam her bedroom door in his face.

“Fucks sake,” he mutters, pushing against the door.

“Language, Smithers,” she replies, pushing back from the other side.

He finally gets the door open with an almighty heave, and then jumps at Karen and tackles her on her bed. In surprise, she releases the screwdriver and it goes flying across the room, and smashes against her cupboard. He doesn’t notice that, because he’s too busy tickling her and Karen has the best laugh ever and it’s not until he realises that he’s lying on top of her on her bed and she’s not holding on to the sonic screwdriver.

“Kaz,” he says, “where’d it go?”

She shrugs.

He climbs off the bed, walks around to the other side of the bed, and sees it lying on the floor with one of the silver claws missing and the light bulb all smashed.

“Fuck.”

Karen sits up and turns to face him. “Oh, is it broken?”

He nods, looking at the screwdriver with dismay.

“How many’s that?”

“Ten.” 

* * *

 

The visit with the props department the next day isn’t fun, because Andrea the props lady gets really mad at him whenever he needs a new one.

“Again?” she says, looking at the mess of the screwdriver incredulously.

He nods. Karen’s standing next to him as he has to face the music and the rage of the props department.

“Well, how’d this one get broken?”

“Well, we were at Karen’s flat…”

“You’re not even supposed to have it when you’re not here, Matt –“

“Well,” he says, “it was all Karen’s fault, really.”

“Excuse me,” Karen says, poking Matt in the shoulder, “If I recall correctly, you were chasing me.”

“Well,” he says, turning to face her, “perhaps if you hadn’t stolen it from me in the first place…”

“Okay,” says Andrea, “sorry to break up your lover’s tiff, but Matt, I’ll have a new one for you this afternoon. Last one, though!”

She says that every time. After Andrea leaves, Karen turns to him and narrows her eyes.

“All my fault?” she hisses at him.

“Sorry Kaz, nervous slip of the tongue –“

She slaps him across the face and storms away. 

* * *

 

Matt just feels really, really terrible about how things went with the screwdriver, so when Karen and Arthur have to film a very intense scene, he sneaks away for a few minutes and buys her a box of Walkers shortbread and a bottle of ginger beer, and then sneaks in to her trailer, because his ‘Steven needs a break’ radar is beeping, which probably means they’ll have some time off from filming.

He’s sitting on the couch in there when she gets back from filming, and she literally screams when she sees him.

“Jesus Matt,” she says, “you scared me.”

“Boo,” he says back. “I bought you biscuits.”

She collapses down beside him. “Thanks, Matt.”

“I’m sorry for blaming you for the broken screwdriver,” he says, cracking open the box of biscuits. She grabs one out of the box and pops it in her mouth.

“I shouldn’t have overreacted like that,” Karen says. “I don’t know, things are just weird right now.”

“Things are ending. They’re bound to be weird.”

She rests her head on his shoulder, and pulls her legs up to her chest. He pulls an arm around her waist and gently rubs his hand up and down.

“Cuddle?”

“Yeah, cuddle.” 


End file.
